Death sentence upheld for Myanmar pair over Brit killings

Bangkok: Two Myanmar men convicted of killing a pair of British backpackers on a Thai holiday island have lost their appeal against the death sentence, a prosecutor said, a ruling made without their defence lawyers present.

Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun were found guilty of killing David Miller, 24, and the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, whose battered bodies were found on a beach on the southern diving resort of Koh Tao in September 2014.

Prosecutors insisted the evidence against the migrant workers was rock solid.

But during the trial and in their appeal, the defence said police bungled their investigation from the outset after local detectives came under huge pressure to solve a crime that risked damaging the country’s vital tourism sector.

Investigators were accused of failing to properly collect and preserve DNA samples and declining to test key pieces of evidence, or allow independent examination of the samples. — AFP